Home
by raci00
Summary: Rachel Greene lives in a quiet upper middle class suburb in Florida. What happens when Ootori Kyouya, a character from her best friend's favorite manga, comes alive? More importantly however, how will they get him home?


Chapter 1

"That was dumb", I complained as Summer shut off the TV set and wiped her teary eyes dramatically. I guffawed. "And you're crying. You're crying over that overly-romantic, strange, incestuous shojo trash you call anime, you just made me watch." I sat up off of the couch and I too rubbed my eyes, but instead trying to get the sleep out of them from this awful boredom.

"Hey!" She turned towards me and stuck her tongue out playfully. "You make me watch your stupid Bleach everyday. It was my turn to pick a show." With that she stood up and placed her hands on either hip. Sassy much?

"Whatever. I can't believe you made me watch the entire first season, of this 'Host Club'." It really was hard to watch. It was way too romantic. Romance was for suckers, and I honestly just couldn't take it seriously. Summer shrugged and scampered off to my pantry to grab some food.

My best friend and I spent hours a day at each other's houses watching anime. Of course, nobody knew about this. That would completely ruin our not half-bad social reputation. In high school, if you don't want to be pegged as a loser, you keep these things to yourself, or at least, in American high school you do.

I pulled my messy curls into something that resembled a bun, and joined Summer in the cabinet, on the epic hunt to save our groaning bellies. My eyes caught sight of a bag of something that I automatically recognized. I jumped up and threw a celebratory fist to the air. Way over-dramatic, I know. "Yes!" I screamed in victory, "Chocolate chip cookies!" We tore open the bag and stuffed our mouths, crumbs flying everywhere.

"We're so attractive!" She chuckled, her voice laced with sarcasm. She was at least.

I was 5'5 and the tallest in my class. My hair was a mess of brown curls that I could really only attribute to my Jewish father. I had a relatively flat tummy, but I also had curves, especially in the chest area. My appearance still managed to look like that of a five year old. Even though my height exceeded the others at my school, people still regularly mistook me for a lost middle scholar because of my baby-face.

Summer though, with her tiny frame and long blonde hair, was quite the sought-after girl. Her elegant features earned her the junior boyfriend she had been dating all year, even though she was only a freshman.

"I really should get home to study." Summer conceded after we finished the package of sweet deliciousness. I pouted.

"Fine, maybe I will too." She raised an eyebrow and before she could question this very un-Rachel-like statement I snorted. "Psh, like I ever study."

"You really could do so much better if you tried." She informed me with an air of disdain.

"I'm mediocre and proud!" I said with a huge grin as she rolled her eyes. "Go home you shojo fool, enjoy your studying." I put air quotes around the studying, and hummed the stupid catchy theme song from the stupid show as she shut the door and left my house, leaving me all alone.

Grabbing the empty cookie bag, I threw it away. I checked my phone and frowned, it was already 10:30, and I would need my sleep if I wanted to be able to wake up on time tomorrow. I quickly changed in to pajamas, which was really just a big tee-shirt and undies for me, and brushed my teeth.

I clicked my phone on, and the screen shined bright in the lonely dark house.

'Good night, love you.' – Dad

I smiled and texted him back goodnight. Sometimes I really enjoyed the solitude of having a working father who spent most of his time at the company headquarters in Boston, but it serious sucked when I was stuck home-alone at night, with only myself to talk to, especially on nights when it rained. A clash of thunder shook the house, and I crawled into fetal position on my bed trying to avoid the memories that were coming back to me.

_"Mommy!" I smiled and hugged her as she tucked me into the car seat._

_"Look Rachel!" She said, "Isn't the lightning so pretty?" I nodded with glee as she got back into the drivers side, and we pulled out of the parking spot at the supermarket._

_"Mommy, sing me a song!" I commanded, giggling. She looked back to me with a huge grin as we stopped at the light and started singing "You Are My Sunshine." I joined in after the first chorus. As thee signal turned green, we drove into the intersection, still singing. She was only half paying attention to the road, her bright eyes still occasionally glancing at me. What would happen next would barely make sense to me that night, but I understood it all too well now._

_Suddenly she veered the car out of the way of a motorcycle fool in the wrong lane, and the tires, not suited for this weather, skidded furiously, not reaching a halt until the car toppled on the side Mommy was sitting on._

_"Mommy!" I screamed this time out of fear. But as the lurched further sideways, and I heard the crushing of her bones, there was no response. "Mommy! Wake up now!" At this point I was crying, and sirens were approaching the scene at a high speed._

I shook in the bed, trying to get these memories out of my head, counting back from 100, doing anything to distract myself until I had cried myself to sleep.


End file.
